Victoria’s energy regulator says energy retailers who dump customers without offering competitive price plans could lose their licence. 

Many energy retailers have written to customers to tell them to switch their accounts to other providers amid a surge in wholesale electricity prices.

By shedding customers, the retailers can avoid purchasing wholesale electricity while prices are high. When prices stabilise, some of these companies will be planning to pick up customers again, but at least in Victoria, they may not be allowed. 

“The commission will not permit retailers to remain licensed if they do not have the financial viability or technical capacity to satisfactorily meet its obligations under their licence,” Victoria’s Essential Services Commission said in a letter to retailers this week.

Retailers will partly recoup those higher costs, as the AER has approved price increases of up to 18 per cent in NSW and 12 per cent in Queensland from July 1.

But analysts suggest dozens of retailers, mostly smaller ones, will go under.

In response to a similar trend in the UK, reports say up to 30 retailers went out of business after a surge in electricity and gas prices.